7 Avoidable (But Common) E-mail Marketing Mistakes
How many times have you felt like slapping your brain for making a stupid mistake?
Your face flushes red. You feel like a moron. You move on.
Because mistakes are a part of life…
But Here’s Seven Avoidable (But Common) E-mail Marketing Mistakes Almost Every Internet Business Owner Makes…
#1 – Invisible Attachments – How many times have you sent e-mails with an attachment you forgot to attach? Gosh, I would rather not count.
#2 – Terrible Typos - There’s nothing I hate more than finding typos in an e-mail I wrote last month or last year – and watch for words that look like typos too – a friend thought I was cursing at him when I wrote “darn” – it does kinda look like “dam”, doesn’t it?
#3 – Ghost Links - Gosh, if I had a penny for every time I shared a broken link then I would probably have 46 cents by now.
#4 – Name Calling - Ever send an e-mail out with the wrong name? Well, until you’ve done it in bulk you don’t know how embarrassing it is. Double check this above all else.
#5 – Mystery Messages - Wow, I don’t know if you ever send out e-mails that make no sense at all, but I’ll tell you – it pays to read e-mails twice and be extra nice – there’s so much room for error.
#6 – Do not call me - I *sigh a little when I read an e-mail with no contact info, e-mails, phone numbers, or mailing address. Hey, wait a second, that’s me! 
#7 – Zombie Replies - O.K., some days I’m not as lively as others. You probably have those days too.
But every once in a while somebody will send me a two word reply that looks more like grunting than words. Is that a “yea” or a “nay”?
O.K., What Did I Miss?
Admit it, you make a few of these mistakes too, right?
Nudge, nudge…
Or maybe, you have a funny story to share. Speak up.
See you soon,
-Jason The “Better Networker”
-The Jason Better Blog
P.S. Hey, are you on Twitter? If I’m not following you then please “Tweet” me up. 
45 Comments
Twila Jacobs on March 12th, 2010
Oh Lord, where do I start?
Forgot to link up my hyperlinks (duh)
Used wrong name in e-mail
Mispelled my OWN name (just slap me for that one!)
Called a lead and used the wrong name. I couldn’t understand her on the phone message she left. I listened 4 times and still couldn’t make it out so I just guessed….wrong of course!
Mama said there would be days like that!
Twila
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March 12th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
OMGosh, I just realized we beat Josh to the comments Dwayne. Hope he’s OK!
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March 12th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Ha Twila
We did indeed. I’ll check up on him, make sure he’s ok.
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March 12th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Wow…
That never happens.
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March 12th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
I’m all OK…No longer look like the guy in the picture of this post.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Did anyone notice that he was also the first comment on my BN post today. He’s like a comment ninja or something.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Hey Chris,
Sounds like a killer idea for a post…
How to be a comment ninja.
Jerome Ratliff on March 12th, 2010
Morning J
I’ve certainly had my share of wanting to “slap” my brain.
One time I contacted a prospect and I swear I was speaking to someone else so I called them by the wrong name. They were like, uh! Talk about wanting to “slap” your brain. Argh!
Guess we are all human, bound for mistakes once in a while.
Have a good weekend.
Jerome Ratliff
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March 12th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
OUCH.
That’s the most embarrassing one.
There’s few things you could say that will insult
a person as much as getting their name wrong.
I’ve done that one more than I care to admit.
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Jason on March 12th, 2010
Hah…
I’ve made a few of those myself.
I think it’s funny looking back on things. At the time they’re embarrassing but funny in the long run.
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Wayne Vassell on March 12th, 2010
Oh Boy – Yes, I have definitely made some mess ups on this front.
Usually it is the wrong link or something, not that funny at the time, but when you look back you have to laugh!
Have a good weekend J.
Wayne Vassell, signing out…
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Josh Garcia on March 12th, 2010
Hey Jason,
Woke up this morning looking like that guy on this post. Had to take care of it. Don’t want to scare the wife away!
Oh yeah! I’ve made couple those mistake on my end. Once I sent out the same email to a list multiple times by not paying attention. OUCH! Learn that lesson once.
I recovered by saying that I thought this info is so valuable that It was worth sending it out more than once.
Have a great weekend…
Josh
BTW – I’m OK now! Phew…
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March 12th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Geez,
That must have led to a few unsubscribes… but
probably not your best prospects either way.
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March 12th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
It helped cleaning the list.
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March 12th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
I bet!
March 12th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Okay Josh,
It is decided. You get to write the post on being a comment ninja.
Gayle Buchanan on March 12th, 2010
Morning Jason – Awesome list and Yes, I have done everyone of them and most definately the ‘red’ face! Thanks for the reminder and PS I wondered why I hadn’t had any responses to a recent series of messages I sent out – they were so good I felt absolutely sure the response would be a positive one – what a dip stick I am – forgot to turn them on! Ha, as much as I dislike making mistakes they always remind me of how human I am.
Have a good one
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March 12th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Sometimes it’s the obvious that gets overlooked.
Thank goodness for scheduling e-mails or I would
probably forget to send them out too.
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Derek Alvarez on March 12th, 2010
Hey Jason,
I’ve definitely made my share of email mistakes!
A month or so ago, I sent my list this subject line:
“A lot about love (and one about fat people?)”
In the email, I had a link to a blog post I wrote about how Jenny Craig sells more food to fat people…
Well, I got 3 unsubscribes (probably offended some heavier folk)
P.S. Here’s one I’ve noticed a few people do:
They’ll send the same email back-to-back on the pretense that they sent the wrong link.
One dude did this to me 5 times in ONE day!
Really, you sent the wrong link 5 TIMES?!
OK then, you’re obviously a dumbass and I don’t want to be on your list anymore, guy.
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March 12th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Whoa,
Actually, I’m surprised that you didn’t get more
unsubscribes. There’s a lot of people who will downright
murder other people over a weight comment … even an indirect one.
I know what you mean by the “wrong link” strategy.
If it happens once… maybe twice… o.k…. that’s cool.
But five times is pushing the envelope.
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March 12th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Yes, you’re right, Jason.
I wasn’t making fun of anyone, I was just making the point that Jenny Craig sells what their target market wants…
But I wouldn’t be surprised if people just saw the subject line and “saw red.”
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Tracey Hausel on March 12th, 2010
I can’t add anything new to this list. My mistakes tend to be the wrong link or forgetting to make a hyperlink.
But then, I’m early in my game. I have plenty of time to make some interesting email mistakes.
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Timothy Willan on March 12th, 2010
Wow! That sure hits home! Been their done that! It’s Pretty embarrassing Calling your lead the wrong name, Not Putting the hole link in! How bout calling the wrong webinar # That was it! for me, I’ve got to get on my game!
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March 12th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Hah Timothy,
I think we’ve all been there.
It’s like the ebb and flow of the tide.
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Kellie on March 12th, 2010
So funny, as I read your post, I thought about my newsletter. It is my 3rd edition so I’m pretty new at it. The template I used had generic information that you were to substitute. Well when I was editing, one portion did not show up on the screen for some reason. When it was sent out, there was my beautiful newsletter and there along the sides was “place information here like how wonderful your products are” LOL, I’m pretty sure my readers were wondering what the heck? I had to laugh, lesson learned and a story to share on your post.
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March 12th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
That’s almost like posting your
outline draft instead of the actual article.
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Chris Owen on March 12th, 2010
Hey Jason,
I offer free books to my subscribers. When I first set it up I accidentally linked straight back to the home page instead of the download page. I think it was the most reply’s I ever got from an auto responder.
Hey thanks for the kind words on my BN post today. I was kinda shocked by your reply. And honored.
Chris Owen
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March 13th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Your article really hit me between the
eyes. We’ve all been through challenges but
hearing yours brought back so many memories
of struggling to beat the odds.
It’s really one of the better articles in recent memory. It looks
like a lot of BN members are enjoying it too.
So I guess, don’t thank me.
Thank you.
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Eric McMillan on March 13th, 2010
Hey Jason,
My favorite and most common hiccup is getting in a hurry and sending emails without attachments. I spend time writing the email so it reads right, looks professional, and has all of the correct info and hit send only to realize I didn’t send an attachment. Talk about a D.A. moment.
It’s good to see I’m not the only one who has mental lapses. I’m surprised I don’t have more with all the things going on in this brain at any given moment.
Eric McMillan
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March 13th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Oh boy,
That’s totally one of my favorite mistakes to make. That’s why it’s near the top.
Sometimes I amaze myself.
Don’t worry, we all have “hiccups” as you call them.
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Pedro Networker on March 14th, 2010
I made my share of email mistakes, too…
if you use gmail, google labs provides a plugin that avoids you to send an email with no attachments when you wrote the words attach, attachment, etc on it.
It has saved my life hundreds of times.
Autorresponder services should take note on this 
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March 14th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Awesome,
I’ll have to look into that.
I agree, autoresponders should take note of
a few things. But in the end, I guess, I’ll have to
settle for the trusty checklist…
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Mitchell Dillman on March 14th, 2010
Well HELLO Jason,
Seems like it’s been awhile my friend. What a week!
Jason, Are you gonna try and tell me you’re only human…
Holy Cow Amiego, and here you had me thinking you had the World by the tail with not a mistake to be had…Wink-Wink…
Come on man, who among us hasn’t made some Wooper Mistakes in business — Or life?
As long as we can learn from ‘em and grow…That’s what it’s all about my friend.
We’re Only Human, Right? And I don’t need to air it all right here and now do I?
Now I’ve got some catching up to do…I’ll be talking with ya soon.
Later.
Mitchell Dillman
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March 15th, 2010 at 8:11 am
I guess I’m only 99.99 percent perfect?
Funny stuff.
It has been a while. But I haven’t forgotten about you or
your questions. In fact, they’re almost ready to go.
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I'm Not Smart Enough To Comment On DwayneHuggins.com on March 15th, 2010
[...] And yes they do share some great value, some cool jokes and their points of view. I even have Comment Ninja’s (click and scroll down, you will see what I mean) on here, as well as people who pass through and [...]
Devendra Patel on March 16th, 2010
I made these mistakes sometimes but anyone surely avoid with checklist before sending every email.
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March 16th, 2010 at 7:29 am
Gosh, I made them too many times… that’s half the reason I wrote the article…
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Susanna on March 17th, 2010
Wait Jason, let me get this right… Are you counting your ghost links? lol
This post, and comments, have had me laughing a lot.
Especially Derek’s because I remember that email and it had me doing a double take. LOL Seriously, I had to read it a couple of times and wonder what you were thinking… hahaha
Okay, one time I sent out a broadcast, and somehow the little symbol on one side of the ‘firstname’ thingy, was missing. So here goes my message addressing “Firstname” instead of their name… yeah, brain slap there.
Thanks for such a fun post! LOL
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March 17th, 2010 at 7:16 am
Yeah, I think that one huge mistake that everybody who markets with e-mail does at least once. Although most people make that mistake on a much smaller scale. I was definitely a little disappointed in myself for that one.
But what’s life without mistakes?
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Hey J
Right Subject Title.
Wrong Content Body.
I was trying to be like a woman and multi-task and mixed the two emails up – what a muppet.
I have learned my lesson. Now I read, re-read, send a test email and read that checking all the links. (Broadcast emails only).
Good topic. thanks
A Proud Network Marketer
Dwayne
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March 12th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Oh man,
I’ve seen that one happen before too… but I don’t think I made that mistake myself yet.
It’s frustrating when you make a big mistake like that but a terrific learning experience too.
A few extra “battle scars”.
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